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Old 2006-05-20, 3:31pm
Dawn >^..^<'s Avatar
Dawn >^..^< Dawn >^..^< is offline
Mmmmm....Raku
 
Join Date: Sep 03, 2005
Location: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beadlvr
Thank you so much for the tips, Dawn. I think I am getting the hang of it with encasing but wanted some clarification on something (hope I can do this clearly).

After melting it in, I super heat it to the white/orange glow, then marver it and it is really really dark. Then I reheat it and gently marver it a couple of times. I noticed as I am marvering during this stage it is not as dark, and looking closely I can see some beautiful colors through that darkness.

At this point, if I don't want to encase, if do the final shaping and put it in the kiln, would it come out with those pretty colors or would it still be dark? Should the bead be heated and cooled more to remove some more darkness or would I lose the colors. At this point it is not black but like a dark brown but I can see blues and greens and I think purples shining through.
Hi Sherry,

I'm pretty sure I know what you're asking, and I hope this answers your question.

When I'm going to encase a bead I want to do so when the raku is REALLY dark. Like right after the first time I marver it. Because when you apply the clear, it tends to "pale" the colors under it a bit, and I want that raku to be the darkest it can be.

Not encasing the beads is just a little bit more tricky and all depends on what you want the end result to be. I've put the same, dark looking, un-encased bead in the kiln and found that I get awesome reds and purples. The hardest part for me was putting a dark bead in the kiln and just "trusting" that it would be colorful when I pulled it out the next morning. Like you, I felt like I had to "suck" some of the color or darkness back out of the beads before putting them in the kiln. But I found that I get my best colors when I don't try to suck the color back out. That's why it's always such a thrill to pull my raku beads from the kiln in the morning, because I never know exactly how they will look.....but I'm never dissappointed!

Try a few small test beads and stash them in the kiln while the raku is dark. Remember how dark they looked and if they're gorgeous when you take them out of the kiln....DO LOTS MORE just like it!!!....LOL!
I hope this made sense.....
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